New NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees announced

CHARLOTTE, NC – JANUARY 19: NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Ray Evernham (right) poses for a portrait with former NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon during the NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Charlotte Convention Center on January 19, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

By AMANDA VINCENT NASCAR announced its crop of 20 nominees up for 2019 induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. In addition to 15 holdovers from from the 2018 induction are five new nominees, including Jeff Gordon in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility. Also added to the Hall nomination list are former team owners John Holman and Ralph Moody, former crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine and former driver Harry Gant. The, essentially, take the place of the 2018 inductees to bring the nomination list back up to 20 individuals. Individuals remaining on the nomination list include Davey Allison, Buddy Baker, Red Farmer, Ray Fox, Joe Gibbs, Harry Hyde, Alan Kulwicki, Bobby Labonte, Hershel McGriff, Roger Penske, Larry Phillips, Jack Roush, Ricky Rudd, Mike Stefanik and Waddell Wilson. Gordon is a four-time champion of NASCAR’s premier series. Only seven-time champs Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty have more. He also has to his credit 93 top-level wins, trailing only Hall of Famers Petty and David Pearson. Gordon retired from full-time competition as a premier-series driver at the end of the 2015 season and has since worked as a broadcaster for NASCAR on FOX. Holman and Moody were co-owners of Holman-Moody, a team that won two-consecutive NASCAR premier-series titles in 1968 and 1969 with Pearson as driver. A Holman-Moody-owned car also won the 1967 Daytona 500 with Mario Andretti as driver. The team was considered the winner of the first Daytona 500 for three days in 1959 after its driver, Johnny Beauchamp, was part of a photo finish with Lee Petty. After Beauchamp was declared the original winner, that decision was overturned three days later, and Petty was declared winner.. Holman-Moody also built most of the Ford race cars competing in NASCAR’s top series between the 1950s and 1970s. The company is still around but no longer competes as a race team. It still produces race cars in other racing series. Gant won 18 times across NASCAR’s premier series, then known as the Winston Cup Series, competing at least part-time in the series yearly from 1973 to 1994. He raced in the Cup Series full-time most years between 1980 and 1994. He was a two-time winner of the Southern 500 crown jewel race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in 1984 and 1991. He also won 21 races in what was then known as the Busch Series (now-Xfinity Series) in 128 starts between 1982 and 1994. Shelmerdine was a four-time champion as a crew chief, leading Earnhardt to four of his history-matching seven championships in 1986, 1987, 1990 and His No. 3 pit crew at Richard Childress Racing also was NASCAR’s pit crew champions for eight-consecutive years. He set records for the youngest crew chief to win a Cup Series race and also the youngest crew chief to win a Cup Series championship. After the 1992 season, Shelmerdine retired from competition as a crew chief and embarked on a NASCAR driving career. Voting Day to determine the 2019 class of five NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees will be May 23. They will be inducted next January. NASCAR also announced two new Landmark Award nominees — Barney Hall and Jim Hunter. Other nominees for the award include Ralph Seagraves, Janet Guthrie and Alvin Hawkins. Two 2019 Landmark Awards winners will be recognized during the 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Follow Auto Racing Daily on Twitter @AutoRacingDaily or like Auto Racing Daily on Facebook (facebook.com/autoracingdailyonline).